A Woman Is Out On Bail After Attempted Murder Of A Palestinian American Child

Anti-Muslim hate crimes have spiked to historic levels and media is largely ignoring it

Elizabeth Wolf, a 42-year-old woman in Texas is out on bail despite her attempt to kill a Palestinian child—and I’m guessing this is might be the first you’ve heard about it?

Let’s Address This

Elizabeth Wolf. Credit: Euless Police Department

While the story is just now coming to light, in late May, Wolf was arrested for attempting to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian Muslim girl and attacking her 6-year-old brother. This, after yelling Islamophobic and racist epithets at the child’s mother. As police arrived and led Wolf away, she screamed at the Palestinian mother, “Tell her I will kill her and I will kill her whole family.”

And as if all that wasn’t shocking enough, despite her open hate crime and attempted murder of a child—Wolf is out on cash bail. The Euless, Texas Police Department said that Wolf was held in Tarrant County Jail but had successfully posted bail, and was released:

'The bond for the Attempted Capital Murder charge was $25,000. The bond for the Injury to a Child charge was $15,000,' Captain Brenda Alvarado said. 

The mother, whose name is being kept confidential for her own safety, said:

We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids. My country is facing a war, and we are facing that hate here.

Civil rights groups are documenting the sharp rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes. Fresh in our memories is the brutal murder of 6-year-old Wadea al-Fayoume in Plainfield, IL at the hands of a racist man radicalized by anti-Palestinian hate.

6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume

Likewise, three Palestinian students were shot at in Vermont for “speaking Arabic and wearing keffiyyahs.” It is critical we recognize these stories to remember these hate crimes are not just statistics, but behind each of of violence is an innocent person who wants nothing more than to live in peace and safety.

From left, Tahseen Ali Ahmad, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Hisham Awartani. Credit: Institute for Middle East Understanding

As an American Muslim, who myself was a 19-year-old college student on 9/11, I can attest that the levels of anti-Muslim hate we’re seeing now are truly unprecedented. The normalization of Islamophobic bigotry and dehumanization has reached historic highs. It is imperative we continue to raise our voices to ensure our elected representatives hear us. Every child, Israeli and Palestinian, Muslim and Jewish, deserves to live in safety and with their humanity. Right now, the unprecedented assault on Palestinian children in Gaza and throughout the United States, demands our attention to stop these ongoing injustices.